How many sorrows can a franchise hero be put through? Oldham continues to push the envelope.
Even though he’s retired from the Lancashire Constabulary, Henry Christie continues his quest to prove that English villages are the most dangerous places on Earth and the most traumatic for himself.
When 13-year-old Charlotte Kirkham vanishes from under her mother’s and stepfather’s noses at the Kendleton Country Fair, Henry, noting Melinda West’s maternal distress, offers to help rouse the troops for a search. Along the way, something about Leonard Lennox, who runs a burger van, strikes him as familiar, and no wonder: Twelve years ago, Henry’s testimony had put Lennox away for kidnapping an 8-year-old girl. It hardly matters that the abductor this time is Lennox’s son, Ernest, because the pressure Henry puts on the elder Lennox brings the man’s long-festering desire for revenge to the boiling point. While DS Debbie Blackstone and her team are still looking for Charlotte, Lennox and his mates—Ernest; catalytic converter thieves Benny and Jimbo; and sadistic pickpocket Cinderella Watkinson—launch a furious round of violent crimes. Their home invasion of wealthy county fair supporter Maude Crichton nets them thousands in cash and jewelry and Maude’s beloved bichon frisé. Moving on to the home of fair organizer Veronica Gough, they demand the proceeds from the event, which she’s placed in Henry’s hands. So they target The Tawny Owl, the pub Henry owns with Ginny Holt, the stepdaughter of his lost love, Alison, who's just told Henry that she and her fiance, Fred Livingston, are going to have a baby. The only weak link in this volley of fireworks is the extended epilogue, three months later, when Henry’s finally in a position to take his own revenge.
How many sorrows can a franchise hero be put through? Oldham continues to push the envelope.Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781448306954
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.
A 16-year-old savant uses his Groundhog Day gift to solve his grandfather’s murder.
Nishizawa’s compulsively readable puzzle opens with the discovery of the victim, patriarch Reijiro Fuchigami, sprawled on a futon in the attic of his elegant mansion, where his family has gathered for a consequential announcement about his estate. The weapon seems to be a copper vase lying nearby. Given this setup, the novel might have proceeded as a traditional whodunit but for two delightful features. The first is the ebullient narration of Fuchigami’s youngest grandson, Hisataro, thrust into the role of an investigator with more dedication than finesse. The second is Nishizawa’s clever premise: The 16-year-old Hisataro has lived ever since birth with a condition that occasionally has him falling into a time loop that he calls "the Trap," replaying the same 24 hours of his life exactly nine times before moving on. And, of course, the murder takes place on the first day of one of these loops. Can he solve the murder before the cycle is played out? His initial strategies—never leaving his grandfather’s side, focusing on specific suspects, hiding in order to observe them all—fall frustratingly short. Hisataro’s comical anxiety rises with every failed attempt to identify the culprit. It’s only when he steps back and examines all the evidence that he discovers the solution. First published in 1995, this is the first of Nishizawa’s novels to be translated into English. As for Hisataro, he ultimately concludes that his condition is not a burden but a gift: “Time’s spiral never ends.”
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781805335436
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.
Four residents of Coopers Chase, a British retirement village, compete with the police to solve a murder in this debut novel.
The Thursday Murder Club started out with a group of septuagenarians working on old murder cases culled from the files of club founder Elizabeth Best’s friend Penny Gray, a former police officer who's now comatose in the village's nursing home. Elizabeth used to have an unspecified job, possibly as a spy, that has left her with a large network of helpful sources. Joyce Meadowcroft is a former nurse who chronicles their deeds. Psychiatrist Ibrahim Arif and well-known political firebrand Ron Ritchie complete the group. They charm Police Constable Donna De Freitas, who, visiting to give a talk on safety at Coopers Chase, finds the residents sharp as tacks. Built with drug money on the grounds of a convent, Coopers Chase is a high-end development conceived by loathsome Ian Ventham and maintained by dangerous crook Tony Curran, who’s about to be fired and replaced with wary but willing Bogdan Jankowski. Ventham has big plans for the future—as soon as he’s removed the nuns' bodies from the cemetery. When Curran is murdered, DCI Chris Hudson gets the case, but Elizabeth uses her influence to get the ambitious De Freitas included, giving the Thursday Club a police source. What follows is a fascinating primer in detection as British TV personality Osman allows the members to use their diverse skills to solve a series of interconnected crimes.
A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-98-488096-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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